Senior Spotlight: Enjoying sounds

When I was young, the moment came when I realized how beautiful the sound of silence was. The surrounding beauty of the trees and the birds flying in a cloudless sky added to the serenity of that peaceful moment as I sat on a boulder-sized rock and enjoyed the sunshine.

Mary Jo Brown

I’m not sure how long I sat there in my forest spot, which became a special place for me to go to. I Iived close to the woods in a sawmill camp with my mom and dad, a dog named Chips and a cat named Skipper. Chips would go roaming the woods with me occasionally but he liked to stay close to home. I found several good places, some with wild strawberries and beautiful flowers like Indian paint brush and lupine; special places where I could just enjoy the silence and regain a peace and balance in my young life. I still go there in my day dreams and still find a certain peace.

My college teacher would tell us to close our eyes and find our favorite place or listen to soft music to relax whenever we felt stressed or tired. Close our eyes and imagine the stress leaving our bodies, starting at our head and moving down to our shoulders and so on until you get completely relaxed. My favorite place to go to was my boulder in the woods and sometimes I still try to go there to relax but my mind does not make it as easy to recall and so I turn to music now. Listening to the “oldies” seems to work well and I can remember most of the words to some songs and all of the words to others.

This past week, my daughter and I sorted through my collection of phonograph records and tape cassettes, listening to some as we worked. I really enjoyed it and again realized what a variety of music I have. There were old country western singers like Ernest Tubbs, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Charlie Pride, musicians like Freddie Fender, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and Floyd Cramer, Classics such as Beethoven, old rockers like original Sonny and Cher or Carol King, musical sound tracks from "My Fair Lady" and "Sound of Music," and gospels sung by Jim Nabors. My music is a reminder of what I listened to through the years and again memories were stirred up as I sang or hummed along with the songs.

The sorting seemed to get done in a short time but when I looked at the clock it had taken a lot longer than I had thought. In any case it was another day done and another wonderful memory to file in the cabinet in my mind to bring out when I need to.